Routine trained snakes?
Whenever I feed my ball pythons, I always feed them in the same manor. I put each ball python in a feeding tub, and let the defrosted rat warm up before I open the feeding bin lids, and offer the rat. They always slam the rat like monsters. Today I was feeding them, and i had the rats all warm and ready before hand, so I put the snake into the bin, and just offered the rat (didnt put the lid on the bin, just offered). Both the snakes refused, and seemed almost a bit afraid of the rat. They pulled their heads under their coils, and shyed away. I was wondering why they werent eating. Then I thought maybe it was routine. So for each snake, I put the lid on the bin for litterally no more then a couple seconds and then pulled it off, and offered the rat again. Both snakes instantly perked up when the lid lifted off. They had their heads held high, watching above, and their tongues were going nuts. I barely had the time to put the rat infront of the snake before it snatched it from the tongs. Both snakes had the same reaction to this.
Is it possible that through the constant repetative routine for feeding time, they have adapted a routine and now look for those steps before they eat?
STEPS
1. the snake is lifted from cage, and dropped into feeding bin
2. feeding bin lid is closed
3. lid opens, and rat appears
Is it possible that throwing one kink in this routine (such as not putting the lid on, and just offering the rat) can mess up the snakes idea of what to do next, causing a refusal, or a slower reaction?
thnx for reading
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